Schools are at an advantageous position to fight against child abuse as they can easily spot changes in children and their family environment. and the school staff can tackle the issue as a team.
This study focuses on systematic measures against child abuse at elementary schools. It aims to define the effects of a school team-based approach including school social workers (SSWr) and their roles.
The survey was based on interviews with coordinators. school nurses, and principals at three elementary schools.
The effects of a team-based approach were as follows:
―Core-team conferences built up a systematic structure for dealing with child abuse and providing support to children.
―Placement of SSWr promoted a team-based approach amongst school staff and the detection of changes in children and parents.
―Core-team conferences aided the development of school teams.
The roles played by SSWr included the introduction of a welfare perspective to schools; empowering school staffs to support children from a bird’s eye view, objective, and specialized standpoints; and working to secure a family environment in the best of interests of the child.

View full abstract

It is believed that children who experience parental neglect are more likely to be truant; however, there has been no significant research showing such a correlation. This researcher analyzed the relation between truancy and association with other factors in cases of neglect accepted by Japanese municipal offices, mainly using Quantification Theory Type 2.
With regard to age, the frequency of truancy was found to be about 20% in children aged 6-8, about 30% in those ages 9-11, and about 50% in those aged 12 and above. In specific, about 64 % of 14-year-old children were found to be truant. Factors causing direct damage to children, such as lack of meals at home and poor-hygiene, have an inhibitory influence on truancy. Household situations, including lack of household cleanliness, interpersonal relations of guardians, illness, disability, and economic poverty have a stimulatory influence on truancy.
However, the methods of this research had various constraints. Thus, these findings should be considered as explaining the phenomenon in a limited way and further research should be conducted.

View full abstract

Using program evaluation, an investigation was conducted in City A. The outcomes indicated that school social workers should be allocated to cope with local problems appearing in schools, and it clarified practical tasks for them and the Board of Education Among the outcomes, the most significant were “early detection and correspondence by school staff at the early stage of the children's behavior problems,”, “improvement in the conditions of children and their homes,” and “increased recognition by teachers of the needs of children and families who are on the foreign-country family register or who belong to foreign country.” As a result of identifying the key elements of an effective school social worker and the Board of Education in regard to these and investigating if those elements were executed, it became clear that post-case conference correspondence was especially important for the school social workers, while gathering information about school social work and evaluating its effects. Furthermore, the systematization of supervisions and meetings was important as practical tasks for the Board of Education.

View full abstract

The ratio of the qualifications of social workers or psychiatric social workers to all school social workers has been increasing since the beginning of the school social worker project in 2008. This study discusses the gap of practices and outcomes between certified and non-certified school social workers through a statistical analysis using the independent t-test.
Consequently, certified school social workers put into practice at the mezzo and macro level in the school system, board of education, and concerned institutions. In addition, certified school social workers adopted practices relevant to case conferences significantly more than non-certified school social workers. However, certified school social workers did not practice direct support to children, parents, and teachers much.
Certified school social workers brought about significantly more outcomes of cooperation than uncertified school social workers and less outcomes of direct support along with the practices.

View full abstract

This study describes the actual conditions and preventive treatments for bullying in the UK in the 2000s. The analysis of the findings is as follows. Concerning the prevention of bullying in school, the UK Department of Education has highlighted the importance for every child to develop social and emotional skills. On the other hand, there are strong relationships between children who are bullied and children in care or children with special needs, especially those suffering from autism spectrum disorder. Staff in school and related agencies must keep a close eye on such children not only during school but also after and before school to keep them secure and safe.
In addition, some schools have opted to post mentors or buddy friends or to set Friendship-benches or Lunch-clubs. Such preventive treatments are important for children with autism spectrum disorders, who may be unable to express their preferences or feelings of displeasure and to build friendship with others in school. Considering the above results, it can be concluded that relating to others and participating in school activities, which are key points of school social work, are one of the most important issues for the prevention of bullying in school.

View full abstract

This report is intended to clarify the recent study trend in the supervision of social work in Japan. I chose 50 articles from the past ten years for this study from “CiNii”; arranged them by domain, purpose, study method, main conclusion; and analyzed them.
Consequently, there were few articles, five per year following 2010. Most of the articles 12 (24.5%) fall under the domain of training and practice. Most study methods cover reflection, case studies, and reports, and most of the study contents deal with grasping the current situation. There were few substantial studies clarifying systems and forms of supervision, or the change and effect of supervision using quantitative and qualitative study designs. There were no studies on the construction of supervision systems or developmental of supervision models.
Thus, the tendency of lacking substantial study of supervision, which had been highlighted previously, continued in recent years.

View full abstract

[in Japanese]

View full abstract

In July 2013, the Government of Japan introduced an Act for Bullying Prevention and Intervention. In this Act, Japanese school social workers were given a professional role to support anti-bullying measures. However, there has not yet been sufficient research conducted on the role of Japanese school social workers bullying prevention. Thus, this study is intended to take the role of school social workers from Bill 13 from the Ministry of Education of Ontario, Canada as a reference.
Bill 13, also known as the Accepting Schools Act came into force on September, 2012. It is a recent addition to the safe schools bullying and positive school climate framework. The purpose of this legislation is to identify bullying, prevent bullying, and improve inclusiveness in schools. In bullying prevention, school social workers play an essential role in facilitating open dialogue and safe spaces for both students and school staff.
Japanese school social workers will be able to obtain useful information on measures intended to prevent bullying from Bill 13.

View full abstract